From a home-based workshop to 14 stores: redefining the traditional thobe

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The urge to customize his clothing led one young
Saudi to quit his job and launch his own garment
startup.

When
Jeddah resident Loai Nassim took a job with3points he
suddenly found himself required to wear a thobe, the traditional
Arabic garment. He drew on his artistic talent and started to add
his own personal touch.

Loai
Nassim with his wife and business partner Mona Haddad (Image via
Instagram)

With the help of a tailor from his mother’s
workshop, Nassim began to produce his own design in a small room in
house. The year was 2001, and demand began to build.

One of his earliest clients was Marwan Qutub,
Nassim’s former colleague at 3points and current business partner.
Nassim tried to talk Qutub out of the order by raising his
price.

“I wanted to avert him from the idea by asking
for an exaggerated price of 10,000 riyals ($2,266) per thobe, but
he insisted and bought of 10 thobes at this price,” Nassim
recalled.

Orders kept coming in, and in 2005 Nassim left
his job and launched his brand,Lomar, with a
capital of $186,000, some of which Loai had saved from his previous
job, and some of which was in the form financial aid from two
former partners.

Lomar is a combination of Loai and Mona, his
wife’s name. His wife played a crucial role in the establishment of
Lomar, helping him Loai make and sell clothes from their basement
for three years, even as their team expanded to 15 tailors in the
basement.

They manage the business together.

“I used to do everything by myself,” Nassim
said. “My wife used to buy the fabric and receive orders, and I
used to take measurements and deliver the thobes to clients’ houses
and collect the money.”

Modest
beginnings: Loai’s first workshop was in his basement. (Image
via Nayif
Alfaqeeh)

Nassim
opened his first store in Jeddah in 2005. That year Lomar earned
$40,000 in revenues. Profits increased to $320,000 in the company’s
second year, and lately, $16 million with the addition of
accessories, kids wear and women’s gowns.

One of Lomar's stores.

Lomar has since expanded to 14 branches in six
cities and opened a 2,500 square meter factory in
Jeddah.

“Our factory represents a quantum leap for the
whole apparel industry in KSA, as it raises the bar compared to the
existing small fashion design workshops,” Nassim said.

Resistance to change

Lomar
faced many obstacles throughout the way, but the main obstacle was
dealing with the media and the public, and their rejection of
modern alterations to the traditional Arab thobe. In order to avoid
negative reactions, Nassim set out to produce a mix of formal
thobes embroidered with traditional patterns and others more modern
and youthful design. The company now has 400 employees, 25 percent
of which are Saudi.

First
men's fashion show in KSA organized by Lomar (Image via
Nayif Alfaqeeh)

Nassim’s experience with local designers was not
satisfactory in the past. However, he hopes to be able to nurture
these local talents by holding a competition for young fashion
designers and developing a training program in fashion design which
he launched in early 2015.

“The main problem lies in the current local
talents, as they didn’t have any universities and institutes
specialized in fashion and cloth design to go to,” Nassim said.
“Some are good at drawing paintings, but don’t have the slightest
idea about how to apply that or how to turn it into a
product.”

Nassim hopes to establish three years from now
Lomar Academy to teach fashion design, as well as an incubator to
teach fashion design and help young designers to turn their designs
into successful products.

He has also welcomed a number of reknowned
fashion designers.

The team is currently working on expanding
regionally by 2017. He has met two potential partners in Dubai, and
will soon meet other potential partners in Kuwait. Nassim also
seeks to expand to global fashion capitals.

Lomar
is no longer the only modern thobe company. Other similar companies
have emerged, includingRE Thobe. These companies are undoubtedly
faced much less obstacles in terms of marketing their new products,
as Saudis have become more receptive to variations of the
traditional thobe, thanks in large part to Nassim’s pioneering
work.